Results illuminate evolutionary interaction between virus and human immune system
An international research team has identified immune-system genes that appear to play a key role in the body’s defense against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The findings may lead to ways of circumventing the virus’s ability to avoid vaccines by rapid mutation. The study in the Dec. 9 issue of Nature also describes how HIV infection is driving human evolution, since individuals with protective
Although transplantation is by far the preferred treatment option for patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), those with high levels of “anti-donor” antibodies have had little hope of receiving a donated organ. Among the relatively few who have undergone transplantation, rejection rates have been very high.
Because the immune systems of “highly sensitized” individuals initiate a rejection response against the tissue of the majority of the population, these patients typi
Does stress speed up the onset of skin cancer? The answer, in mice anyway, appears to be “yes.” Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center say that chronic stress may speed up the process in those at high-risk for the disease. Their new study, published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, shows that mice exposed to stressful conditions and cancer-causing UV light develop skin cancers in less than half the time it took for non-stressed mice to g
Women not very visible in ads for cardio drugs
Gender bias in pharmaceutical advertisements for cardiovascular disease may affect treatment, says a new University of Toronto study. After examining 919 cardiovascular drug ads displayed in American medical and cardiovascular journals published between January 1996 and June 1998, U of T’s Dr. Angela Cheung and her colleagues concluded that 80 per cent depicted male patients and the remaining 20 per cent featured women. They ar
Locating here no longer necessary to doing business
Fewer U.S.-based multinational companies are investing in Canada since it formed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the U.S. and Mexico in 1994, say researchers at the University of Toronto.
“U.S. multinationals no longer need to locate in Canada to access its market,” says Walid Hejazi, business professor at U of T’s Rotman School of Management and co-author of the study published in the Journ
A first-of-its-kind study of safety issues surrounding the medical use of cannabis has just been launched. Known as the COMPASS study (Cannabis for the management of pain: assessment of safety study), the research initiative will follow 1400 chronic pain patients, 350 of whom use cannabis as part of their pain management strategy, for a one-year period. Seven participating pain clinics across Canada are now enrolling patients for this study.
“Patients in COMPASS will typically hav
In a study to determine the prevalence of a range of symptoms among older persons living independently with advanced chronic diseases, researchers at Yale have found that the majority experienced multiple moderate or severe symptoms.
“The clinical care of community-dwelling older adults with advanced chronic diseases would be enhanced by identifying and alleviating the range of symptoms they experience,” said principal investigator Lisa M. Walke, M.D., assistant professor of in
Trial results presented at the Annual American Society of Hematology Conference
University of Minnesota researchers will present the promising results from adult umbilical cord blood studies for patients with cancers of the blood and bone marrow. These studies’ findings provide solutions to the problems outlined in recently published studies in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). “The results of our studies are a triumph in a treatment that has been largely viewed as only
North Carolina high schools that adopt Tobacco-Free School policies are making progress in protecting students, staff and visitors from the unhealthy effects of secondhand smoke by reducing smoking even during home football games, a new University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study concludes. Schools can improve compliance with the policies further by communicating and enforcing them better, researchers say.
Doctoral student Eric Pevzner conducted the study as part of the Tack
A new study has found hepatic steatosis – fatty liver disease – in nearly one third of American adults in a large urban population sample. The prevalence of the disease varied significantly among ethnic groups. Hispanics had a higher prevalence than whites, while blacks had a lower prevalence than whites. The study is found in the December 2004 issue of Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hepa
Despite aggressive treatment, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) – the most common and deadly of brain cancers – usually claims the lives of its victims within six to 12 months of diagnosis. This statistic has changed little over the years, largely because the cancer grows so quickly that neither surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy can stop it.
Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that a small protein called hsFlt3L delivered via a genetically engineered virus incr
Cuba, South Africa, India, China, Brazil among nations showing the way
Study co-authors are available for advance interviews Friday Dec. 3. Please call to schedule a time. The study will be published as a special supplement Mon. Dec 6 in Nature Biotechnology. The embargoed study can be previewed by media online at http://www.utoronto.ca/jcb/home/news_nature.htm
Cuba, South Korea, and India make and export their own biotech vaccines, Egypt manufactures recombinant insulin
In the first epidemiological study designed and executed specifically to determine the heart-attack risk associated with COX-2 inhibitors rofecoxib (Vioxx) and celecoxib (Celebrex), researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found a greater risk of heart attack associated with Vioxx than Celebrex, although neither of the two drugs showed a statistically significant elevated risk of heart attack relative to people who did not use the drugs. In addition, the researchers found
Doctors appear willing to use intensive treatment to lessen otherwise untreatable pain or other severe symptoms in dying patients even if the treatment, at least in theory, risks hastening the dying process, according to two University of Iowa and Yale University studies on end-of-life care.
Known as “terminal sedation,” the practice involves the use of sedating medications to control a patient’s symptoms even if it results in decreased or complete loss of consciousnes
Imagination is alive and thriving in the minds of America’s school-age children. It is so prevalent that 65 percent of children report that, by the age of 7, they have had an imaginary companion at some point in their lives, according to a new study by University of Washington and University of Oregon psychologists.
The research also indicates that having an imaginary companion is at least as common among school-age children as it is among preschoolers. Thirty-one percent of
When a community finds that water it relies on for drinking or recreation contains E. coli (Escherichia coli), a bacterium found in the feces of warm-blooded animals that indicates fecal contamination, residents and officials naturally want to find the cause and fix it — quickly. But several testing methods using E. coli to identify the sources of fecal contamination were less accurate in field application than previously reported, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report pu
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